The Authenticity of The Tradition of Ghadir Khumm [In reply to Ibn-Hashmi]

              In reply to “Hadith of Ghadir Khumm [A Sunni Perspective, by Ibn-Hashmi]"

 

In the name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful

Peace and blessings upon Muhammad (SAW) and his pure progeny

I recently read an article posted by ibn al-Hashimi on Ghadir "from a Sunni Perspective". 

http://gift2shias.com/2013/10/24/hadith-of-ghadir-khumm-a-sunni-perspective/#comments

Unfortunately the article is quiet non-academic in nature and a misrepresentation of one of the most glorious and blessed events in the history of mankind. I will not answer each and everything in the article simply because addressing the main premise will take care of everything else. However, I will comment on the approach that was taken in the article and then move on to answering some of the specific points that were raised.

1)  The article is replete with quotation of comments from Shia forum members. These comments are portrayed as if they are representative of Shias in general. Such an approach is uncalled for in an academic discussion and has no place in an article discussing Shia-Sunni beliefs. Not only does this fuel hatred but leaves a huge question mark on the integrity and validity of the content of the article.

2)    The author has provided a few narrations from Sunni sources that talk about a modified version of the event of Ghadir Khumm and has conveniently ignored hundreds of other Sunni narrations that point to the commonly accepted version of the event.

3)     The author’s main premise is that the event of Ghadir as Shias mention is blown out of proportion. If this is the case then why has there been no attempt to look at the version which non-Muslim historians and researchers have agreed upon? After all, if we are talking about history, then why just handpick three or four Sunni traditions which are nowhere else to be seen?   

I can understand a Sunni arguing on the interpretation of the event, but to deny it all together is quite unheard of. Let us briefly look at the event of Ghadir as a historic event, from non-shia sources. In fact, let us look at some Non-Muslim sources because surely, if the event of Ghadir is a fact then neutral sources should also quote it.

The agreement on the commonly narrated version

The following is taken from a paper by a Jewish Hungarian scholar, Ignaz Goldziher:

“The most widely known tradition (the authority of which is not denied even by orthodox authorities, though they deprive it of its intention by a different interpretation) is the tradition of Khumm, which came into being for this purpose and is one of the firmest foundations of the theses of the 'Alid party.

 In the valley of Khumm between Mecca and Medina three miles from al-Jahfa there is a pool (ghadir) surrounded by trees and bushes, which serves as drainage for rain-water. Under one of the trees took place-according to a tradition by aI-Barl.' b. 'Azib.-the scene which is so important for Ali's followers. The tradition relates: 'Once we travelled in the Prophet's company. When we rested near Ghadir Khumm we were called to prayer. In the shade of two trees we prepared a place for the Prophet and he performed his midday prayer there. Afterwards he took 'AIi's hand and said 'Do you know that I have greater power over the Muslims than they have themselves?' 'Yes', we answered and when he repeated this question several times we gave the same reply each time. 'So know then that whose master I am, their master is 'AIi also. 0 God, protect him who recognizes 'Ali and be an enemy to all who oppose 'AIi." When the Prophet finished this speech the future caliph 'Umar stepped towards 'Ali and said: 'I wish you luck, son of Abu Talib, from this hour you are appointed the master of all Muslim men and women."

It is obvious that the Shi'ites accord the greatest importance to this tradition and consider it to be the firmest support of their doctrine. An annual feast which was promoted also by the Buyids was to keep the memory of the covenant of the Ghadir alive. The Sunnites, who do not reject this tradition, do not see in it a proof of the immediate caliphate of 'Ali after the Prophet's death.”

Goldziher, Ignaz. Muslim Studies. Vol. 2. Translated by C. R. Barber and S. M. Stern. London: Allen and Unwin, 1971.

Dr. Maria Massia Dakake of George Mason University dedicates a whole chapter to Ghadir Khumm in her book, “The Charismatic Community: Shi`ite Identity in Early Islam”. Here is an excerpt from the article:

“Despite the sectarian controversy over the interpretation of the Prophet’s statement about ˜Ali at Ghadir Khumm, reports found in both Shi˜ite and Sunni sources generally agree on the basic outlines of the event. As the Prophet was returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage in the year 10, he halted the caravan, gathered the returning pilgrims for communal prayer and began to address them. At some point he called ˜Ali i b. Abi Talib to his side, took his hand and raised it up, declaring: “For whomever I am their lord (mawlå, or variously wali),˜Ali is their lord; O God, befriend (wåli) the one who befriends him(wålåhu) and be the enemy (˜ådi) of the one who is his enemy (˜ådåhu).”In some versions of the tradition, the Prophet makes this declaration after asking the gathered crowd: “Am I not closer (awlå) to the believers than they are to themselves?

She further states:

“As regards major Sunni works of history, it is perhaps not surprising that we find no mention of the Ghadir Khumm tradition in Ibn Hisham’s recension of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirah, nor is it found in the major Sunni histories of Tabari or Ibn Sa˜d. The absence of the tradition in the major works of these established and well-respected Sunni authorities would indeed seem to be strong evidence of the Shi˜ite provenance of the tradition. However, further examination reveals that the tradition is found in other works by authors with equally well-established Sunni credentials. For example, the tradition is given thorough coverage in Baladhur’s third-century historical work, al-Ansåb al-ashråf, where several accounts of the Prophet’s statement are given; and the most extensive coverage of the event is found in the Musnad of the Sunni traditionalist, Ibn Hanbal, and in the very late, staunchly pro-Sunni histories of Ibn Asakir, Tarikh madinat Dimashq, and Ibn Kathir, al-Bidåyah wa˘lnihåyah. In fact, in the latter two works, one finds extensive analyses of the various recensions and sources for this tradition that rival what is found in many Shi˜ite works until the modern period.”

Why do Bukhari, Muslim and some other Sunni traditionists omit / distort this tradition?

To answer this simple question let us once again take a look at a neutral source. One explanation has been provided by Laura Veccia Vaglieri who was an Italian orientalist and a pioneer of Arabic and Islamic studies in Italy. He was a professor at Naples Eastern University and has authored various books on the history of Arabs. One of his article title “Ghadir Kumm” was published in the second edition of Encyclopedia of Islam (1953), E12. He states:

“Most of those sources which form the basis of our knowledge of the life of Prophet (Ibn Hishãm, al-Tabari, Ibn Sa'd, etc.) pass in silence over Muhammad's stop at Ghadir Khumm, or, if they mention it, say nothing of his discourse (the writers evidently feared to attract the hostility of the Sunnis, who were in power, by providing material for the polemic of the Shí'is who used these words to support their thesis of 'Ali's right to the caliphate). Consequently, the western biographers of Muhammad, whose work is based on these sources, equally make no reference to what happened at Ghadir Khumm.”

What about the version reported by Tabari and others?

Dr. Maria Massia Dakake explains exactly how the distorted version came about.

“Moreover, there is some interesting textual evidence to suggest that the Ghadir Khumm tradition continued to be known in the Abbasid  period, even among those historians and traditionists who omitted its mention directly, and that a conscious effort had been made to replace the Ghadir Khumm tradition in its original form with more politically acceptable versions. Our first case in point concerns the universal history of Tabari. As noted above, in the history of this prominent Sunni authority, we find no mention of the standard Ghadir Khumm tradition that has come down to us through other sources. Yet Tabari does include a very different praise tradition for Ali in connection with the Farewell Pilgrimage. Tabari reports that a number of complaints had been made against Ali by the men under his command on an expedition to Yemen just prior to the Farewell Pilgrimage, and that the Prophet wished to resolve the dispute in Ali’s favor. The same context is usually given in Sunni sources to explain the Prophets words in the standard Ghadir Khumm tradition as well. In Tabari’s account of the events that take place on this same day and occasion as the Ghadir Khumm event, the Prophet makes a public statement in support of Ali, but in a way that bears no textual relation to the standard Ghadir Khumm tradition. According to this report, which is related from Abu Said al-Khudri (also one of the major transmitters of the standard Ghadir Khumm tradition), the Prophet said: “O people, do not complain about Ali, for by God, he is harsh (akhshan) for [the sake of] God or in the path of God.” Here, a praise tradition has been provided for Ali in the same chronological slot where we would have expected to find the Ghadir Khumm account, and narrated by an individual who was also one of the major authorities for the standard Ghadir Khumm tradition, but without the spiritual and legitimist implications of that tradition. The textual seams along which one tradition was likely excised and another substituted in its place are nearly palpable; and this apparent substitution seems all the more deliberate when we consider that both Shi˜ite and Sunni bibliographical works report that Tabari wrote an entire monograph on the event of Ghadir Khumm and the controversy over the Prophet’s words on that occasion. This work, which is no longer extant, was entitled, according to various accounts, Kitåb Ghadir Khumm or Kitåb al-walåyah. His omission of the event in his prominent historical chronicle, therefore, was not likely due to lack of knowledge.”

Sunni References

The above discussion proves beyond doubt the authenticity of the Shia version of the tradition and the subsequent omission of this from certain Sunni texts.

But just for the record, I want to point out the magnificent work by Ayatullah Abd al Husayn Amini of Iran title Al-Ghadir. This is a twenty volume book discussing the narration of Ghadir according to Sunni documents. He has listed 110 companions who have narrated this hadith. Any individual who denies the Shia version of the hadith, would at least want to give this book a glimpse. On the contrary, how many companions have narrated the event as claimed by Ibn-Hashimi?

There are a couple points that I would like to make:

1)    The fact that there are hundreds of references that can be provided from Sunni sources alone related to the event is no ordinary thing. This by itself makes you wonder; If the incident of Ghadir was an insignificant event sparked by the harassment of certain individuals, why is it all over the place?

2)   Imam Ali (as) himself is reported to have reminded the people of this event and the words of the prophet. And he did this during his caliphate. Again, why would he keep repeating the event, especially during his caliphate if it was based on some small isolated confrontation? That would make no sense. One such example is as follows:

Al-Musnad Ibn hanbal, hadith no. 950:

“(Imam) ‘Ali (‘a) complained and addressed the people at Rahbah, saying:

All those who had heard the Prophet’s words at Ghadir Khum, stand up.”

Six persons on behalf of Sa‘id and six persons on behalf of Zayd stood up and bore testimony that they heared the Prophet say on the Day of Ghadir:

“Is not God superior to the faithful?Yes! said the gathering. He said:

O Allah! For whomsoever I am master ‘Ali is his master. O Allah! befriend his friends and despise his enemies”

The above event (like many others, also narrated in Sunni traditions) took place during the caliphate of Imam Ali (as), more than 20 years after the event of ghadir. If the event of Ghadir was something insignificant, it would make no sense to reiterate it more than two decades after it took place.

If reading the 20 volume hadith book by Ayatullah Amili is not possible then there are also plenty of sources online. The following link provides a lot of information. The hujjah is upon the reader to do their own research and at least look into some of the sources mentioned, and think with a clear mind.

http://www.al-islam.org/shiite-encyclopedia-ahlul-bayt-dilp-team/ghadir-khum-part-3#sunni-traditionists-who-mentioned-tradition-ghadir-khum

Why Ghadir instead of Macca or Madinah?

Indeed, the location of Ghadir has a profound Divine Hikmah (wisdom) in it. Some of the reasons of choosing Ghadir are quite obvious and have physical implications.

1)   If the event had taken place at Macca or Madinah or even close to the two cities there may have been a chance of people diluting it with Hajj or the regular everyday activities of the prophet (saw). Note, how Ghadir is pretty much dead center between Macca and Madinah such that no one can ever claim that it took place at either of these cities. The event has forever become unique for all eternity and has been granted its own significance!

2)  There was no media in those days. News only traveled by word of mouth. The very uniqueness of Ghadir acted as a catalyst for the news of the event to spread within the Muslim world. This may not have been true if the event had occurred at Macca. This fact also invalidates the argument that there were more Muslims gathered at Macca since we clearly know that incident of Ghadir is anything but hidden. In fact it is so well known that people up to this day, like Ibn Hashimi are trying to hide it and mislead people.

3)  Another explanation that comes to mind is that the prophet (saw) was aware that the announcement of Imam Ali’s (as) wilayah will invite prejudice from various Muslims. It wouldn’t have been wise to let this happen in Macca, where the Kaaba resides and the whole Muslim Ummah unites for pilgrimage. Moreover, violence in the boundaries of Haram is a grave sin and his intention may have been to not compromise the sanctity of the house of Allah.

Just like the verses of the holy Quran have both Dhahiri (apparent) and Batini (hidden) explanations, the actions of he who is the perfect manifestation of the Quran also have hidden and apparent meanings. The above mentioned explanations of this act of the prophet at Ghadir are some of the apparent explanations. It is worth noting that there are various spiritual reasons associated with the location of Ghadir. Some of these can be understood by common folk while others are only known to the great awliya of Allah. There must also be certain hidden spiritual aspects known to no one other than the prophet (saw) and his infallible Ahl-ul-bait (as). And lastly, some of the esoteric realities of Ghadir may be known to no one but the Almighty Himself, since it was His will that the event take place at Ghadir Khumm.

Just to give a small example; The location around Ghadir acts as a Meeqat (place of wearing of Ihram for Hajj / Umrah) for those who are coming from Syria. The Ihram is worn at Masjid Al Jaufah and the pious pilgrims who begin their Manasik (rites) of Hajj with the Ma’rafa (True knowledge) of Imam Ali (as) and of the event of Ghadir, while being at the location of Ghadir can surely reap great spiritual benefits in this world and the next. Surely, the spiritual significance of Ghadir Khumm cannot be ignored.

Conclusion

There is only one way to conclude this. The mawla of all momineen and mominaat, Ali-ibn-Abi Talib (as) himself appropriately states “There is enough light for those who want to see”.

The authenticity of the event of Ghadir is clear as daylight except to those who wish to turn a blind eye. There is ample explanation for the motivation of the few and far between Sunni sources that omit or distort the event of Ghadir Khumm. Hundreds of individuals from all schools of thoughts narrating the tradition in various hadith sources cannot be ignored in favor of a handful of distorted narrations or outright omissions.